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FINAL REPORT
Field Exercise on Frontier Issues (FEFI) Africa
Sustainability Science in Action
FEFI Africa
(Chihiro Kiyonaga, Gideon Baffoe, Marcin Jarzebski, Ryo Yamada, Shogo Kudo, Victor Tumilba)
April 2013
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science -
Global Leadership Initaitve (GPSS-GLI)
The University of Tokyo
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Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3
2. Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 5
3. Members and coordinators ........................................................................................... 6
4. Schedule and visiting institutions ................................................................................. 8
5. Logistics arrangement ................................................................................................... 9
6. Pre-departure activities ............................................................................................... 10
7. Daily activities ........................................................................................................... 12
8. Field visits ................................................................................................................... 20
9. Achievements ............................................................................................................. 27
10. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 29
11. Recommendations to GPSS-GLI ............................................................................... 30
12. Appendix ................................................................................................................... 32
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1. Introduction
Field Exercise on Frontier Issues (FEFI) 2013: Africa - Sustainability Science in Action
is an international field exercise that aims at training students on how to solve real
world problems from sustainability perspective. It was implemented from February 23
to March 10, 2013 with the collaboration with University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria and
University of Cape Town (UCT) and Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa. FEFI
Africa was to explore sustainability challenges and those projects working for
sustainable development on the African continent.
The proposal of FEFI Africa was developed from two aspects; one was competency-
based program assessment developed by two doctoral students in GPSS and the other
was Virtual Seminar in “Advanced Concepts and Methodologies in Sustainability
Science” course offered in Winter semester of 2012.
Firstly, prior to the call for FEFI proposals, two of the members had worked for the
development of program assessment method for sustainability education programs by
applying five core competencies discussed in Sustainability Science literature. The
original article1 raised those five competencies within a framework that illustrate a
project implementation process, and it has fitted well with problem-driven or solution-
oriented nature of Sustainability Science. Additionally Sustainability Science is claimed
as holistic science2 which has multi-/trans- disciplinarily principles. Thus, program
assessment should also be newly created with applying new ideas to capture its
characteristics. Those two members have developed a workshop style student self-claim
assessment method and it was implemented to students in Graduate Program in
Sustainability Science (GPSS) at the beginning of Summer semester of 2012. The result
of this assessment was summarized as an article titled “Review and assessment of
academic activities, student competencies, research themes and practice of sustainability
principles in the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science” and submitted to “the
19th annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference (ISDRC19)”
that will be held on July 2013, at Stellenbosch University. One of the main objectives of
FEFI Africa was to replicate this program assessment workshop in other universities
that have educational programs focusing sustainability.
1 Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011). Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development. Journal of Sustainability Science, 203–218. 2 Comment of Prof. Takeuchi in the promotion video of GPSS-GLI
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Secondly, three doctoral student members worked on ‘contextualization of resilience
concept in Sustainability Science’ in “Advanced Concepts and Methodologies in
Sustainability Science” course instructed by Prof. Nagao in Winter semester of 2012.
The course provided a practice exercise of contextualizing resilience concept with a
case study of sub-urban agriculture in Kashiwa City. Students had two interviews to
local farmers and analyzed the relationship between their production activities and
emerging social changes due to urbanization of the region 3 . This course exercise
enriched those three members’ idea for FEFI proposal to include contextualization of
concepts in Sustainability Science in development projects in Africa.
The course also initiated a series of over-skype seminars with University of Ibadan,
Nigeria and Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. This seminar was called Virtual
Seminar (VS) and it offered GPSS students to interact with students from other
universities on variety of topics in Sustainability Science. Preparatory process for VS
required communication skills as well as strategic approach to design each seminar
sessions. Particularly the communication with University of Ibadan helped us to
establish a close relationship prior to our visit and also provided concrete ideas for
possible field visits in Nigeria. Discussions with students from two other universities
often brought our attention to the difference on Sustainable Development (SD) both in
conceptual and practical levels between Africa and Asia settings. Therefore, we also
decided to incorporate this demand for examining the regional difference on SD in our
FEFI Africa activities.
Besides students who attended the course, other three master’s students joined the team
certainly diversified team’s perspectives and enriched discussions among the members.
Prof. Nagao, who was the lecturer of the course, kindly set a foundation of
communication with counterpart universities, namely University of Ibadan (UI),
University of Cape Town (UCT), and Stellenbosch University (SU) in Africa. That also
helped the implementation of FEFI Africa greatly.
3 Please refer to the final report submitted to this course, titled "Agriculture in Kashiwa City: application of 'resilience' and 'multifunctinality of agriculture' concepts to the farm operations of two local farmers"
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2. Objectives
The conduct of FEFI Africa is oriented to promote sustainability science as a field of
study through research exchange and academic institution evaluation. This proposal is
also based on the vision on the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Frontier
Sciences and GPSS in encouraging research and student exchange. The field exercise is
the starting point for further activities, projects and programs that would benefit all
partner universities and their respective departments. There are specific sustainability
issues in Africa and this activity is expected to encourage the conduct of sustainability
science research in the context of these issues that will be raised in this field work. The
significance of the study is learning from the process of collaboration as well as the
outcomes.
There are four main goals in the conduct of the proposed field work.
Actualize Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with University of Ibadan, and
University of Cape Town, established on March 2013, as represented by the
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS)
Visit the ongoing projects for Sustainable Development to enrich understandings of
concepts in Sustainability Science by applying contextualization approach
Conduct research exchange sessions with students and faculty members who are in
sustainability-related programs in Africa
Conduct competency-based program assessment to students in Sustainable
Development programs at Centre for Sustainable Development, University of
Ibadan
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3. Members and coordinators
FEFI Africa team had total of 10 members that was consisted of 6 GPSS students, 3
faculty members, and 1 research fellow from IR3S. Following is the list of participants
from the University of Tokyo and IR3S.
1. JARZEBSKI, Marcin (D2)
2. KUDO, Shogo (D1)
3. TUMILBA, Victor (D1)
4. YAMADA, Ryo (M2)
5. BAFFOE, Gideon (M1)
6. KIYONAGA, Chihiro (M2)
7. Project Professor. NAGAO, Masafumi (GPSS)
8. Assistant Professor. AKIYAMA, Tomohiro (GPSS)
9. Assistant Professor. MATSUOKA, Mari (ILO)
10. Mr. TADAMI, Yasunobu (IR3S)
Coordinators and attended faculty members from counterpart institutions
University of Ibadan
1. Professor. Isaac F. ADEWOLE (Vice Chancellor)
2. Professor. Labode POPOOLA (Centre for Sustainable Development)
3. Professor. Emmanuel AIYEDE (Centre for Sustainable Development)
4. Professor. Janice E. OLAWOYE (Centre for Sustainable Development)
5. Dr. Wale OLAYIDE (Centre for Sustainable Development)
6. Dr. Moshood N. TIJANI (Department of Geology)
7. Dr. Olugbenga OKUNLOLA (Department of Geology)
8. Dr. Olatunyi Akinade THADRACH (Department of Geology)
University of Cape Town
1. Professor. Friacis PETERSON (Department of Chemical Engineering)
2. Professor. Harro von BLOTTNIZ (Department of Chemical Engineering)
3. Professor. Mark NEW (African Climate and Development Initiative)
4. Dr. Beadley RINK (African Climate and Development Initiative)
5. Dr. Jennifer BROADHURST (Department of Chemical Engineering)
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Stellenbosch University:
1. Professor. Frans SWANEPOEL (African Doctoral Academy)
Sustainability Institute
2. Dr. Christoff PAUW (International Academic Networks Postgraduate &
International Office)
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4. Schedule and visiting institutions
Date Activity
Place to visit Transpor-
tation Hotel
Morning Afternoon Evening
Feb
23 Sat To Narita Airport 10pm
From Narita to Dubai
Bus, Train, Air
24 Sun 5am Arrive at Dubai 7:35am From Dubai to Lagos
12:55pm Arrive at Lagos (Move to UI)
Chartered van
University of Ibandan Hotel
25 Mon
Courtesy call (University of Ibadan; Prof. Isaac F. Adewole) Meet with PhD students: Expectation setting
Research Exchange: join seminar presentations Presentation for our cases: present our plan for field work or outcome of group work from virtual seminar
Group
Meeting
University of Ibadan
26 Tue
Visit the University field site 1. Oil palm processing unit 2. Cassava processing unit 3. Other community-based projects
Ile-Ogbo, Osun State
Chartered van
27 Wed Day trip wind-up and preparation for final synthesis of Nigerian case
Preparation for the presentation
University of Ibadan
28 Thu
Presentation of results from GPSS program assessment Brief participants from Ibadan for conduct assessment at UI
Rapid assessment of Sustainability Program (survey) and curriculum review
Mar
1 Fri
Synthesis of field visit and program assessment's results
From UI to Lagos
10:15 From Lagos to Johannesburg
Chartered van
2 Sat
５:11 Arrive at Johannesburg 7am From Johannesburg to Cape Town ９:10am Arrive at CT
Cape Town Guided Tour
Group
Meeting
Robben Island
Chartered
van Little Scotia Guest House (Cape Town)
3 Sun Cape Town Guided Tour the National Park at Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
4 Mon
Courtesy call (University of Cape Town; Prof. Petersen)
Meeting and expectation setting at University of Cape Town, Department of Chemical Engineering)
University of Cape Town
5 Tue Visit the Kuyasa CDM project and the biogas digester
Visit to Stellenbosch University Khayelitsha
Stellenbosch University
Chartered van
Spier Hotel (Stellenbosch)
6 Wed Session of Transdisciplinary Summer School
Meet with students of biodiversity program
Move back to University of Cape Town
7 Thu Back to CT by 1pm
African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) Meet with the ACDI students
Group Meeting
University of Cape Town
Little Scotia Guest House (Cape Town)
8 Fri Synthesis session
9 Sat Move to Airport １:30pm
From CT to Dubai Chartered
van
10 Sun 1:20am Arrive at Dubai 2:55 Departure
5:20pm Arrive at Narita
Bus, Train
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5. Logistics arrangement
Transportation
Nigeria: Transportation with guards was arranged by University of Ibadan. We had van
for transporting people and another pick-up car for baggage. Transport has covered our
trip from arrival to departure, including field visit and way between hotel and the
university.
South Africa – Cape Town: Transportation in Cape Town was arranged from Japan.
Our driver was a person who used to drive Prof. Nagao in Cape Town, Mr. Zakky
Parker, a retire high school teacher. We were driven by the van. Transportation covered
airport transportation, hotel to university transportation, field trip visit and
transportation to and from Stellenbosch. In Cape Town we also have used campus
shuttle and walked between campus and hotel.
South Africa – Stellenbosch:Transportation between hotel and university has been
provided by kindness of Stellenbosch University.
Hotel reservation
Nigeria: Hotel has been arranged together with counterparts. Initially we had offered
hotel which suppose to cost 150USD per night, however, looking for savings we were
requesting for discount, then students were located to the student dorm with very poor
and inhabitable conditions, and professors in the University Hotel. The same day, after
we arrived and checked into the dorm, we were moved to the hotel same as professors.
Conditions of the hotel were decent but not proportional for its price.
South Africa – Cape Town and Stellenbosch: Hotels in South Africa were reserved on-
line from Japan. Places were selected by suggestion from the counterpart universities. In
Cape Town we were accommodated in Little Scotia Guest House, in Stellenbosch we
were stayed in Spier Hotel, outside the city and main campus, but in the vicinity of Eco
village and satellite campus of Stellenbosch University that we visited as well.
Coordination of local activities
Local activities were organized together for us by University of Ibadan, University of
Cape Town and Stellenbosch University according to our proposed objectives, plan and
interests, including field visit.
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6. Pre-departure activities
As pre-departure activities for FEFI Africa, following six pre-departure activities were
conducted by student members’ initiation with the participation of faculty members.
Presentation on competency-based assessment to members
The result of competency-based program assessment was shared with team members at
the early stage of preparation. This presentation was made twice to the team.
Particularly it was important to share the demands for developing a program assessment
method and possible future implications to other universities which have sustainability
programs such as Lund University in Sweden, Arizona State University in the United
States, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In FEFI Africa, CESDEV of
University of Ibadan was selected as the main target institution to conduct this
assessment. A visit to Institution of Sustainable Development at Stellenbosch University
was also set for assessment workshop originally, however due to schedule conflict this
assessment was switched to research exchange activity with a group of doctoral students
who were joining summer school on methodologies for sustainability science at the
institute.
Weekly meetings for setting logistics
Weekly meeting was also conducted to check the progress of preparation particularly of
logistics. Each member was assigned to proceed specific tasks by following week and
the progress was shared by a common schedule organizing file on a public folder in
Dropbox.
Virtual Seminar with UI and UGM
Virtual Seminar was conducted twice within “Advanced Concepts and Methodologies in
Sustainability Science” course. Three doctoral students were in charge of the seminar
from the content of seminar, scheduling, and set-ups. The overall theme of Virtual
Seminar was contextualization of concepts in sustainability science and also to examine
the contextual difference between Africa and Asia. Virtual Seminar provided concrete
examines of waste management both from Nigeria and Indonesia. Though discussion
remained within the provided information, Virtual Seminar helped us to establish a good
relationship with our counterparts prior to our departure to Nigeria.
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Special dialogue with Vice Chancellor (VC) Max Price from UCT on Sustainability
Science and Global Leadership
Vice Chancellor of UCT, Dr. Max Price visited Kashiwa Campus on October 5th, 2012.
In this occasion, a special dialogue with VC Price was set to exchange opinions on
sustainability related issues and leadership education. Please refer to "Meeting minutes
with VC Price" for the details of this session.
Meeting with Prof Petersen from UCT at Kashiwa campus, and Meeting with Prof.
Swanepoel from Stellenbosch University at Hongo campus
Prof. Francis Petersen who is the dean of Engineering & the Built Environment
department at UCT came to Kashiwa Campus at the occasion of the visit of VC Price
last year October. Meeting with Prof. Petersen was organized by Prof. Nagao and
several doctoral students from GPSS participated. In this meeting, we could introduce
GPSS and individual research topics. This occasion became one of the foundations for
our visit to UCT in FEFI Africa.
In addition, we had another chance to have a meeting with Prof. Swanepoel from
Stellenbosch University last January. He is a professor of agriculture and involved in
Sustainability Institute at Stellenbosch. Four of the student members could manage to
meet him together with Prof. Nagao at Hongo campus, and we could introduce our
objectives of the visit and details of program assessment workshop. He kindly accepted
our proposal of the visit and also confirmed his support to the implementation of
assessment at Sustainability Institute.
Presentation on competency in the field of Education for Sustainable Development
Prior to our departure, we also set one session dedicated to capture some of the basic
discussions on the theme of competency. One of the student members who was
conducting a research on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), made a
presentation on general discussion of competency in Education field. It was quite
helpful for the all other members to capture general trend of competency discussion in
the field, particularly within the framework by UN.
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7. Daily activities
The group made up of three staff and six student members. The team arrived in Nigeria
on Sunday 25th at exactly 12:35pm. We met Dr. Olawale E. Olayide of University of
Ibadan (UI) Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV)at the airport and were
escorted by the security to UI. The team arrived at the Centre around 5:00pm and went
straight to UI campus for a welcome cocktail party with Prof. Labode Popoola (Director
of CESDEV) and other faculty members as well as other UI students. We took residence
at UI Hotels which was on campus.
The detailed explanation of what transpired during the entire field exercise is below. It
is organized on daily basis and followed chronologically.
Monday 25/2/2013
The group met with CESDEV Director and faculty members and some UI PhD students
in the morning. The Director (Prof. Labode) introduced to us the four CESDEV master
programmes; Development Practice Programme, Indigenous Knowledge and
Development, Tourism and Development and Environmental Protection and Natural
Resources Programme. The vision of this center is to be Africa’s center of excellence
for sustainable development. The center we gathered was established in May 2010 by
UI as a demonstration of the university’s commitment to Sustainable Development. This
was followed by GSFS presentation by Mastuoka-san and then GPSS-GLI presentation
by Akiyama-san. The main idea behind these was to sell the University of Tokyo to the
outside world. Students became so much interested in the programme and started asking
so many questions about it especially regarding entry requirement. The group leader
(Marcin) followed suit with the objectives of the trip to the area. The afternoon session
was research exchange presentation by students from both sides (UT & UI). Nine
students (3 from UI and 6 from UT) made the presentations. All the students presented
their individual research. ee species. The group also summed up their virtual seminar
they conducted earlier with their counterparts in Nigeria and Indonesia. To Contribute to
the MOU on International Academic Exchange Agreements between the University of
Tokyo and the University of Ibadan, a virtual seminar was conducted between the two
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partner Universities and included the University of Gadja Mada, Indonesia.
The International Research Exchange was conducted in the Centre of Sustainable
Development (CESDEV) at the University of Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. The program
was attended by the University of Ibadan faculty and counterpart students of the
International Virtual Seminar. The first part of the one day program included the
introduction of the CESDEV by the Director Professor Papoola Labode. The student
counterparts were Adesoji Akinwumi Adeyemi, Samson Fasogbon and Mohammed
Shuaibu. The topics presented were on Foresty Methodologies, Biofuel Exploration and
Trade liberalization in Nigeria respectively. Presentation from the students of the
University of Tokyo were on Community Based Foresty (Marcin), sustainable education
(Ryo), Sustainability Mining Issues in Africa (Chihiro), Ageing Population in Japan
(Shogo), Agriculture (Gideon) and Resilience Concept (Victor). The last part of the
program was the presentation of the synthesis of the International Virtual Seminar. The
International Research Exchange has broader topics of covered as compared to the
International Virtual Seminar. The former provides a broader context of understanding
sustainability on various topics while the latter provides a more in-depth understanding
of sustainability principles. The conduct of both forms of research exchange provides
both breadth and depth for discourse of sustainability.
Tuesday 26/2/2013
The team visited the rural development projects in Ileogbo in Osun State. We first went
to pay homage to the King in his palace before proceeding to the various project sites.
There were three main development projects in the Ileogbo village that was studied
during the course of the field visit. The development projects were the Moringa,
Cassava and Palm Oil industries. Moringa is a native tree in Ibadan that has been
developed into an herbal product with pharmaceutical therapeutic claims. The leaves of
the moringa tree are processed into powder form which can be consumed as a health
drink when mixed with water. The moringa project promotes economic activity within
the community. Cassava on the other hand is a staple food in Nigeria known as gari
when processed through fermentation. The palm oil is a small scale production process
that utilizes all the parts of the palm oil fruit. These projects were financed by
MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank in collaboration with UI. The main purpose
of the projects is income generation and poverty reduction. Women dominated all the
activities. The group also visited UI entrepreneurship site specially designed to train
students on entrepreneurship skills. The process of each activity was learnt on the field.
Wednesday 27/2/2013
14
One master course (Tourism Development in West Africa) programme was audited in
the morning. It was delivered by Prof. David Aremu (Tourism and Development
Programme Coordinator). The lecture was about tourism development potentials in
Africa with special emphasis on West Africa. The lecture lasted for an hour and thirty
minutes (9:30-11:00am). The team then embarked upon UI campus tour from 12-
3:00pm. We visited the Botanical gardens and observed the different tree species (like
Mahogany and Magnifera Indica), Heritage Park, Fish Pond Site and Teaching and
Research Laboratory where theories are put into practice. Late afternoon (3:55-5:00pm)
was marked by mining lecture at the UI Department of Geology. It was delivered by two
senior lectures supported by Prof. Tijani (The H.O.D). The focus was on Nigeria’s rich
mineral deposits and causes of mining conflict. The country is not only known for its
oil and gas but also possesses a range of mineral resources. Nigeria possesses
approximately 40 different mineral types distributed at 120 locations across the country.
For example, there are gold, Platinum Group Minerals (PGMs), iron ore, manganese,
tantalite, tin, and so on. Particularly, its iron ore is one of the largest deposits in West
Africa and spreads to 15 different locations across the country. Major occurrences are
Lokoja Okene District (LOK) notably at Itakpe, Ajabanoko, Kakun, Chokochoko, Toto
Muro and Tajim. We learned that mining industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy,
because oil and gas industry has been playing a significant role in the economic growth
and development of the country. Illegal mining is widespread throughout the country
and often result in conflict with local people. The people are not consulted before such
activities take off and they are always deprived of their share. These activities have
caused a lot of devastation to the natural environment. The day was rounded up with
group discussion in the evening around 8:00pm for field trip presentation the following
day.
15
Thursday 28/2/2013
There was presentation of our observations of various projects visited on the field.
Mastuoka-san and Akiyama-san once again made GSFS and GPSS-GLI presentations
respectively. The students were very interested in the scholarship packages being
offered. The only drawback to the interest is the age requirement in the scholarship
programs. Most of the graduate students in Ibadan University pursue higher studies after
gaining work experience. The age limitation of the scholarship may be a constraint for
students interested in studying in the University of Tokyo.
A synthesis of the field visit was presented to the graduate student body of the CESDEV
of the University of Ibadan. The community development case studies was the
foundation of introducing the competencies required for sustainability projects (Figure
6). The five competencies were systems-thinking, normative, interpersonal, strategic
and anticipatory (Figure 7). These competencies are linked to project implementation in
avoiding unintended future situations while trying to achieve sustainability visions by
implementing interventions to complex problems. The framework was applied to the
three case studies (Moringa, Cassava and palm oil community projects). Once the
graduate students were oriented with the five key competencies, they have identified
two major activities which contribute to their competencies. One activity identified is
the program lectures and the other is the seminars. The contribution of each activity to
each competency was measured using a scale from 0 (no contribution) to 4 (with the
highest contribution). Initial results showed high ratings for the courses of their program
as well as the seminars being conducted in contributing to the key competencies. The
presentation was also the basis of discourse regarding sustainable development. The
graduate student body was divided into groups and discussions were facilitated by the
students of the University of Tokyo.
Key questions about the projects was raised and discussed with Master of Development
Practice and Tourism Development students together with other faculty members like
Dr. Godson Anna of CESDEV. Objectives and reflection of the visit followed. In order
to promote research exchange, a visit to the Office of International Programmes of the
University of Ibadan was also organized. The purpose of the visit is to signify the
interest of both student and faculty members in securing support from the office to
encourage students from University of Ibadan in joining programs such as the one being
conducted (International Research Exchange and Virtual Seminars) Dr. Olawade (of
CESDEV) and two students together with security accompanied us to the local market
to observe how marketing activities are conducted.
16
Friday 1/3/2013
Final synthesis of the visit was done in the morning after meeting the UI VC (Prof. I. F
Adewole) in his office for a talk about our visit. The intent of the visit was to concretize
the proposed academic research exchange programme between the University of Ibadan
and the University of Tokyo. Present in the discussion were Mr. I. O. Aponmade
(Bursar); Prof. A. A. Aremu (Coordinator, Tourism and Development Programme), Prof.
Janice E. Olawoye (Member, Tourism and Development Programme) and Dr. W.
Olayide (Higher Programme Officer, Tourism and Development Programme); Mr. O. M.
Oladejo (Director, Public Communication); and Dr. F. I. Etadon (the Principal Assistant
Registrar/Vice Chancellor’s Office). Prof. Janice of Agricultural and Rural Sociology
Department gave us a lecture of the whole projects that we visited. It was through her
effort that the projects came into being and especially in the Ileogbo village. One main
thing she emphasized was how to make the projects sustainable as much as possible
especially after the expiration of the funding period. Social capital development is
ongoing with the aim of training the local people to be self-reliant. The day was
wrapped up by goodwill messages from both school (faculty and students). We finally
left UI for the airport (Murtalla Mohammed International Airport) around 2:30pm
accompanied by Dr. Adewole and the university security force. The team departed for
South Africa in the evening (10:15pm).
Saturday 2/3/2013
The team got to Johannesburg airport in the morning and continued to Cape Town by
domestic flight. The first day in Cape Town was marked by a visit to Robin Island and
Signal Island where the Dutch sailors based and used it as navigational aid to their
incoming trading vessels during their rule in South Africa. It is worthy to note that
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned at Robin Island for 27 good years. Any black who
stood against the then government was seen as a threat and sent to prison on Robin
Island. We took occupation of our new hotel (Little Scotia) in the evening around
5:30pm and went to dinner with Dr. Divine Fuh (of University of Cape Town
Department of African Studies). The group had discussion about our visit later in the
evening. The focus was on prioritization of our activities in South Africa.
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Sunday 3/3/2013
The second day was marked by tour. We visited Cape of Good Hope, Table Mountain
and other beaches and historical sites in South Africa. Bihari Indian Restaurant was our
next stop for dinner. Mr. Parker of Alive Tours was our guide throughout the day. The
Cape is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. The
Cape of Good Hope is at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula, about 2.3km west and a
little south of Cape Point on the south-east corner. Cape Town is about 50 km to the
north of the Cape. The view from the top of Table Mountain has been described as one
of the most epic views in Africa. The main feature of Table Mountain is the level
plateau approximately 3 km from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs.
Monday 4/3/2013
The group paid courtesy call on Prof. Peterson (Dean, Faculty of Engineering) and Prof.
Harro Blotnitz of Chemical Engineering Department. Professor Harro coordinated our
visit to Cape Town University (UCT). Formal introduction was done. Nigeria
experience and expectation in South Africa was also shared. Campus tour followed till
2:00pm when special lecture on mining resources was delivered by Dr. Jennie and Prof.
Harro. The main focus was on sustainable mining in South Africa. Though South Africa
is known to be a major gold producing country in the world, it was shocking to know
that gold is not the backbone of the economy and that it contributes less than 15% to
GDP. Mining firms in South Africa were told also do not prepare sustainability report on
their operations. Workers are underpaid and mining strikes is now a common
phenomenon. The new UCT Sustainable Mining Programme is aimed at training
manpower with expertise in sustainable mining for the sector. Intensive discussion
followed suit for close to an hour. The day activities were finished at exactly 4: 00pm
and then moved to the hotel for group discussion and preparation for the next day
activities.
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Tuesday 5/3/2013
Kuyasa in Khayalitsha Township was the next field trip destination. Attention was on
the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project and the Biogas Digester in the
town. Khayalitsha is an informal town made of black population. The town came to
being during the Apartheid rule in South Africa where there was segregation. These
projects unlike in Nigeria were more technical and were not surprise to see some UTC
engineering students involved in the projects. The technical expertise especially with
regard to the Biogas digester was offered by the students. The CDM project has the aim
of alleviating energy poverty and reducing carbon emissions. It is known to be first of
its kind in the world after the Kyoko Protocol in 1997. Steve Thorne of South South-
North (an international NGO) is the brain behind the project. Poor household are able to
access hot water without caring about electricity bill because it is solar induced. The
whole mechanism is fitting of solar water heaters on top of roof of specially built
houses, fitting insulated ceilings and energy efficient bulbs. It is estimated that it
reduces electricity cost by 40%. The biogas digester is an experiment project by
students of UTC. Vegetable wastes are collected, digested and converted to power for
cooking inside the garden. The residue water is also dried and used as fertilizer. The
field visit took place from 10:15-12:30pm. Stellenbosch University was the next stop.
Coincidentally, the international office was celebrating their 20th anniversary so had no
option than to join the session for the day. Spier Hotel was the new residence and took
occupation there in the evening around 5:30pm. There was intensive discussion geared
toward the following day visit and presentation at Stellenbosch Sustainability institute.
Wednesday 6/3/2013
There was a tour at Stellenbosch Sustainability Institute eco village in the morning. It
was really an interesting place to be. All the buildings there were made of local
materials and use solar power. Waste water from the various houses is recycled for
flushing toilet in the residence. Kitchen waste is also digested and used as fertilizer.
There was also individual research presentation at the Sustainability Institute even
though the time was limited since summer school was also in session. The group again
toured Stellenbosch Township in the evening around 4:00pm.
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Thursday 7/3/2013
The group came back to Cape Town and had lunch with the faculty members and
students of African Climate Change Initiative Development Programme (ACID). This
was followed by individual research presentation at exactly 2:50pm till 5:00pm. Ten
students (five from each school) in total made the presentations. UCT ACID
presentations focused on climate adaptability in the context of sustainability. The topics
were diverse (just like that of UT students) though revolved around climate change.
Students took the opportunity to ask questions about the various research presentations.
It was witnessed by some UTC Professors and notably amongst them was Prof. Harro
Blotniz of the Chemical Engineering Department. Final group presentation discussion
was done in the evening from 8:00pm to 12:00am.
Friday 8/3/2013
There was final synthesis. Small groups made of students from both sides were formed
to discuss some pertinent questions that came up during the entire field exercise.
Questions like why CDM Project and not any other were intensively discussed among
professors and students. UT students acted as facilitators throughout the entire exercise.
UT summarized everything at the end and made synthesized presentation. It was
crowned with goodwill messages from both sides. The official visit to Africa then ended
and left South Africa on the following day (Saturday, March 9) to Japan.
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8. Field visits
Field Immersion on Sustainable Community Development Projects at Ileogbo village
The team paid first field visit on Feb 26th to Ileogbo village in Osun state, east of Oyo
state (where Ibadan is located). It took about 2 hours by car from University of Ibadan.
There were three main development projects in the village that was studied during the
field visit. The development projects were the Moringa, Cassava and Palm Oil
industries. Moringa is a native tree in Ibadan that has been developed into an herbal
product with pharmaceutical therapeutic claims. The leaves of the moringa tree are
processed into powder form which can be consumed as a health drink when mixed with
water. The moringa project promotes economic activity within the community. Cassava
on the other hand is a staple food in Nigeria known as gari when processed through
fermentation. The palm oil is a small scale production process that utilizes all the parts
of the palm oil fruit.
Photo 1: Community development projects on Moringa, Cassava and Palm Oil
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Income generation project by University of Ibadan has introduced machinery
equipments to the production process of these three local products. To gari production,
they have installed a motor-equipped draining machine (Photo 2). By the use of this
machine, cassava could be drained at much shorter time in prior process to further
drying by using a grill plate (Photo 2). This machine installation has increased
productivity of gari production.
Photo 2: Visit to gari production (above), Installed machine and drying process (below)
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For palm oil production, another machine was installed to fasten the process as well as
to prevent occupational hazards from the extraction. In the production process, workers
first boil bunches of palm in drum cans to make it easier to extract the oil. As next
process, workers were used to put the boiled palms into a stone pool to extract the oil by
stamping them by barefoot, thus workers always had burn injury as occupational
hazards. Due to this process, the extraction was quite dangerous and also inefficient. By
the installation of oil extractors, this hazardous process could be skipped and even the
extraction process was minimized to 5~10 minutes that workers used to take more than
5 hours to extract the same amount of palm oil.
Photo 3: Visit to palm oil production site (top), Oil extraction process (middle),
Installed machine (bottom)
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Field Immersion on Kuyasa CDM project at Khayalitsha Township, Cape Town, SA
The team had a visit to Kuyasa CDM project at Khayalitsha Township at Cape Town.
The township is a settlement made for immigrants from surroudning regions of Cape
Town. It is located in the fringe of Cape Town, and it took about 30 minutes by car from
the University of Cape Town.
The township was started as an informal settlement, however, it is now a designated
residential area for low-income people. Cape Town city hall government provides free
housing, yet the waiting list is already full and it takes 5~10 years to get a housing.
Those immigrants are keep coming to Cape Town by seeking for job opportunities. The
existence of Khayalitsha Township represents strong presence of social disparity within
South African society; especially it is a well-representation of high unemployment rate
of the country at 25.5% as of 2012.
The CDM project has the aim of alleviating energy poverty and reducing carbon
emissions. It is known to be first of its kind in the world after the Kyoko Protocol in
1997. Steve Thorne of South South-North (an international NGO) is the brain behind
the project. Poor household are able to access hot water without caring about electricity
bill because it is solar induced. The whole mechanism is fitting of solar water heaters on
top of roof of specially built houses, fitting insulated ceilings and energy efficient bulbs.
It is estimated that it reduces electricity cost by 40%. The biogas digester is an
experiment project by students of UTC. Vegetable wastes are collected, digested and
converted to power for cooking inside the garden. The residue water is also dried and
used as fertilizer.
At first we had a visit to Solar Water Heaters project. This is a part of Kuyasa CDM
project and they are installing Solar Water Heaters to housings in Khayalitsha. The
guide told us that one heater can provide 110 litter of hot water to a equipped household.
It can improve sanitary conditions by providing hot showers and also reduce total
cooking time by cutting time to boil water. Particularly reduction of cooking time has
created significant improvements in residents' health conditions by reducing total inhale
of harmful air from using of cooking stove of propane gas inside of housing with poor
ventilation conditions. The ratio of tuberculosis disease decreased significantly.
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Photo 4: Tour to CDM project (above), Installed housings in Khayalitsha (below)
Second, the team had a visit to biogas digester project at community farm inside of
Khayalitsha. This community farm also has a function of restaurant where the produced
gas is used for cooking and farm products are served to customers. The team had a
quick tour of the project and also had lunch at the resutrant. The local leader of the
garden mentioned that they now have food delivery and catering services which they
jointly organize with a girls' high school located in front of the garden. Students from
the high school occasionally have a visit to the resturant as a part of their class and gain
training on restaurant services.
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Photo 5: Community garden and restaurant (above), Biogas digester and cooking stove (below)
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Field Immersion on Sustainability Institute at Stellenbosch, SA
On March 6th, the team had a visit to a eco-village at Sustainability Institute at
Stellenbosch. At the site, the team had a presentation for promoting GLI and also FEFI
Africa activities to the participants for PhD summer school held for African doctoral
students. Prior to our presentation the institute kindly offered us a tour to the facility of
institute as well as the eco-village located at the same site. Sustainability Institute is a
higher education institute for Master's level Sustainable Development programmes. The
facility also has a function of primary school. The eco-village is still in the process of
development, yet there are 8~10 houses that were built with environmentally friendly
designs.
Photo 6: Tour at Sustainability Institute at Stellenbosch (above), Eco-friendly
construction from recycled material and water treatment tanks (below)
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9. Achievements
By the implementation of proposed field activities, the team has achieved the goals that
had been set. With regards to the MOU on International Academic Exchange, promotion
of the University of Tokyo and GPSS-GLI to the students and faculty of University of
Ibadan and University of Cape Town has accomplished. Professional and interpersonal
relations have been established and are now an important resource for the University of
Tokyo in terms of networking. Actual research exchange has been conducted in the form
of presentations and workshop discussions.
The implementation of the proposal is a learning process in itself where coordination
was necessary in establishing common objectives and interest for partner university
representatives. The team gained the experience implementing a project geared towards
promotion of institutional collaboration. Major achivenements are listed below.
The visit to the Vice Chancellor and the Office of International Program of
University of Ibadan and University of Cape Town already is the starting point in
exploring commitments on how to realize the MOU in terms of actual activities and
funding.
The introductory session at the visit to University of Ibadan and University of Cape
Town was a good promotion of the University of Tokyo as well as GPSS-GLI. The
presentation gained a good attention of student participants, particularly at
CESDEV.
These three universities provided support for field work depending on the quality
and purpose of proposals coming from the students. The visit to three project sites,
Ileogbo Village in Nigeria, Khayelitsha projects in Cape Town, and Eco-village
project in Stellenbosch provided the team of the University of Tokyo not only an
opportunity to establish a close relationship with students and faculty members but
also to gain vibrant information about sustainability issues.
All three projects were facing different types of sustainability challenges. Not only
simple analysis of the issues but also follow-up group discussions with African
colleagues supported the team greatly to deepen its understanding on each project.
The projects naturally set time-schedule and certain degree of involvement to local
communities that maintain students' motivation and responsibility higher as
compare to conducting solely individual research like GPSS students practice
currently.
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Research exchange session was conducted intensively in University of Ibadan and
University of Cape Town, and it created a platform for discussions on various
research topics in multidisciplinary settings. The discussion with students and
faculty contributed to understand how people from different backgrounds and
disciplines use different terms and capture specific dimension of the topic.
Several sustainability concepts have been imparted to the students and faculty a like
in University of Ibadan. The faculty and students have been immersed to the
process of assessment and evaluation of key competencies for sustainability
although institutionalization of the process is still warranted. The interaction with
between the students of both universities contributed to mutual learning as well as
establishing a platform for research exchange in the form of a virtual seminar. The
virtual seminar itself is proposed to be anchored on the advanced methodology
course of the GPSS program to ensure its continuity.
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10. Conclusions
FEFI Africa was an eye-opening field exercise for the group in terms of simple
realization of today's challenges in Africa as well as contextualization of some of the
concepts in Sustainability Science. The visit to real world sustainable development
projects in both countries made the exercise worthwhile. Sustainability projects were
found to be understood and implemented in the context of local needs but on different
magnitude as a result of financial commitment. Orientations of projects were also
different. Projects such as gari production and Moringa processing in Nigeria were more
focused on income generation with livelihood improvement and poverty reduction as
core. That of South Africa (CDM Projects) was more technical in nature and had
environmental orientation. Carbon emission was the main goal of the project. The
implementation of the proposed field work has achieved the goals that had been set.
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11. Recommendations to GPSS-GLI
Based on the experience of FEFI Africa, the group would like to propose the following
activities to GPSS-GLI;
1. Organize project-based research group
By direct observations of students' involvement to development projects as a part of
their master or doctoral research at UI, UCT, and SU, we have realized that students
were more engaged with the reality of social issues they are tackling, and this situation
has made their performance more responsible for the people they are working with and
also more reflective to the community's demands. We truly felt this point should be
incorporated more actively in GPSS-GLI. As a first step towards more project-based
research, we would like to propose to organize small groups by GPSS-GLI students on a
couple of research topics in Sustainability Science and engage with actual stakeholders
to run as projects with certain responsibilities to the outcomes. This is quite essential
point as Sustainability Science emphasizes the importance of engagement with society.
2. Setting minor research project (advisory to other student's research)
This second proposal is partly related to the first proposal since this encourages students
to be involved in more than one research projects. By having a minor research project
aside from your major research project which you will attain MA or PhD degree,
students will have more opportunities to learn other types of researches under
Sustainability Science. This minor research project system also encourages the
interactions among students on various research topics.
One who holds a research project as his/her major should take a lead in the
implementation of the project from scheduling to thesis writing (or publication), and
those who take the same project as minor are responsible to provide constructive
comments to the content. It could also optional if those students support filed activities
or not. The main benefit of setting this minor research project is to proceed individual
researches with a help of other students; in this way peer-check function would work
effectively. This is particularly important to a multicultural environment like GPSS-GLI
in which traditional senpai-kohai (senior-junior) advisership does not function
effectively. Based on our observation, only those who are good at communicating with
seniors are gaining constant support and others are often looking for opportunities to
gain questions and comments only at Friday seminars. Additionally, having those peers
who see the project as minor would push the quality of research naturally higher and
more multi-/trans- disciplinary.
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3. Sustainability Science study session for publication-aimed activities
Finally, we believe the importance of having strong background concepts and
frameworks based on Sustainability Science literature as we encounter students and
faculty from different institutions during FEFI Africa. Often we found, sustainability
was discussed in terms of Sustainable Development or Science for Sustainability during
FEEI Africa. In order to promote Sustainability Science, we need to be well trained in
Science of Sustainability discourse as well. Regardless personal belief or argument to
mode of science or types of sustainability, it would be quite essential for all students in
GPSS-GLI to capture the major discussions in Sustainability Science literatures. Thus,
we would like to propose Sustainability Science session among GPSS-GLI students.
This could be a part of a credit course or weekly session along with GPSS-GLI seminar.
It could also start from voluntary participation base. In addition, as an educational
program that devotes itself to Sustainability Science, we also need to make our presence
explicit and this should be achieved by making publications in Sustainability Science
fields. Since we (students) all are already working on individual researches for degrees,
we could have one extra push to publications. We hope this Sustainability Science study
session could function as a platform for possible co-authoring among students or
students and faculty members in the future.
